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Safi

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From Airport Casablanca to Safi: 1600 Dirhams

Safi (Arabic: آسفي‎), is a city in western Morocco on the Atlantic Ocean. The capital of the Doukkala-Abda Region, it has a population of 282,227 (2004 census), but is also the centre of an agglomeration which has an estimated 793,000 inhabitants (1987). Safi is the main fishing port for the country’s sardine industry, and also exports phosphates, textiles and ceramics. During the Second World War, Safi was one of the landing sites for Operation Torch.Safi, under the name Safim (Zaffim or Asfi) is one of the oldest cities in Morocco, hence its foundation date is unknown. It might have been founded by the Carthaginians.

The city was under Portuguese rule 1488 and 1541, it is believed that they abandoned it to the Saadians (who were at war with the them) since it proved to be difficult to defend from land attacks. The Portuguese fortress built to protect the city is still there today.After 1541, the city played a major role in Morocco as one of the safest and biggest sea ports in the country. Many ambassadors to the saadians and Alaouite kings druing the 16-18th centuries, came to Morocco via Asfi, its proximity to Marrakech then capital of Morocco helped expand the maritime trade in the city.Louis De Chénier consul of the French court in Morocco in 1767, reported that the city was the only usable seaport at the time.A French Navy captive Bidé de Maurville, who wrote the account of his stay in Morocco in his 1765 book Relations de l’affaire de Larache, reported the presence of an important number of foreign trading houses in the city : Dutch, Danish, British and French.

After the Sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah built the city of Mogador, he banned foreign trade in all Moroccan Ports except in his newly built city. Consequently Asfi stopped playing a leading role in the Moroccan trade.